1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data erasing apparatus for erasing data recorded on a magnetic disk(s) contained in a magnetic disk drive in order to prevent the risk of data leakage, etc. when scrapping or recycling the magnetic disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
To recycle non-defective magnetic disks used in magnetic disk drives rendered defective in the manufacturing process of magnetic disk drives, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-331904 discloses a data erasing apparatus for erasing servo data written on a magnetic disk; this data erasing apparatus accomplishes data erasure by applying a magnetic field to the magnetic disk, with a portion thereof inserted between permanent magnets, while rotating the magnetic disk by driving the spindle motor in the disk drive. However, this apparatus is not suited as a data erasure apparatus for preventing data leakage when scrapping or recycling the magnetic disk, because it requires the step of exposing the magnetic disk outside the drive for data erasure, and because there is the possibility that the magnetic disk may not rotate due to failure.
Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3088608 discloses a data erasing apparatus having a recessed section into which an entire hard disk drive can be inserted. To erase data on a magnetic disk with the magnetic disk enclosed within a metal housing, an even stronger magnetic field is required, but it is difficult to insert and remove the magnetic disk drive by overcoming the attraction force working in such a strong magnetic field. To solve this problem, the data erasing apparatus of Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3088608 uses a magnetic field that is generated by energizing coils, and de-energizes the coils when inserting or removing the magnetic disk drive. However, this presents a problem in terms of ease of use, because the power supply for energizing the coils is always required, and because the operation for turning on and off the power supply has to be performed each time.